4 ms·
I’m in the PNW, so a fairly different accent. If I say “an historic” the h gets minimized, but “a historic” sounds perfectly natural to my ear and “an” sounds w
by kennywinker 4y ago
I’m in the PNW, so a fairly different accent. If I say “an historic” the h gets minimized, but “a historic” sounds perfectly natural to my ear and “an” sounds wrong with all the other example words.
- alistairSH 4y agoMid-Atlantic here. I'd say "a historic" with the harder 'h' sound. "an historic" sounds to me like "anhistoric" (as in "lacking history" kind of like "amoral")
- hammock 4y agoThe word is "ahistoric," and ask yourself why you thought it was "anhistoric"... it's related to the reason why some say "an historic." ;) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ahistoric https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ahistoric
- alistairSH 4y agoLanguage is so messy. I say "a historic" and "ahistoric" differently, I think. The first with a hard 'h' and a slight pause between words. The second with soft/no 'h' and no pause. If I heard somebody say "anhistoric" (soft 'h', no pause), I'd think they meant "ahistoric" not "an historic". Of course, context probably makes it clear regardless. Growing up in DC with Scottish parents was always fun. Rolled Rs, different "wh" sound (Scottish English: wheels vs US English: weels) (noticeable expulsion of air on the 'wh' sound). Mary (lady), merry (happy), marry (get hitched) all should sound different to me, but in MidAtlantic English they're often the same. Same for Kerrie vs Carrie.